Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Tour Maps

I have said it before, but I love maps. They guide you to places, they take you along roads you wouldn’t otherwise know were there, let alone find.

Studying a map and then making decisions about where to ride on a trip can be very rewarding and for some, this planning gives a foretaste of what is to come – the ride itself.

I enjoy seeing on peoples blogs, the routes that other people take, but I have one plea – please make them bigger so we can see the context. Very often the map is so zoomed in, we can see the detail, but we have no idea where in the particular country the route is. If needed, make two maps, some general and one detailed, and add them both to your blogs.

I have recently added to the bottom of my blog some big scale maps showing the overall routes I have taken on some of my recent rides. Will others do the same?

I sometimes post googlemaps of the route I took for the extended rides, especially if I think others might want to do the same route and it's not painfully obvious by just following the route mentioned within the posting.

Bob – I am like you and I cannot work it out either. Chris Luhman has got it right and he puts a Google Map on his posts that you can zoom in and out of. I am even more Neanderthal, in that I print out a map, draw my route on it with a pen, scan it and post that map!

Sonja – One of the good things about reading riding blogs is they come from many different places in the world. It is hard to know where exactly though sometimes as the maps are so zoomed in.

Rex – I just took a quick look at Every Trail and it very good indeed. I also looked at your Summer Trip 2011 posts and the maps on there which also look good. I should look into downloading the data from my gps into my computer and use that somehow – good idea!

Dom – I just took a look back at some of your older posts and found the map from Glacier National Park to Boise in Idaho. It looks like you plug in your route into Google Maps and then take a screen shot. Quite a few people do that and we should learn from Chris Luhman how to create a map in Google and then link electronically to it.

Canajun – You have it just right – a lot of people who are not from the USA or Canada don’t understand where particular territories or states are, so sometimes we don’t have a clue where people are riding.

Chris – Having seen your Google maps where as a reader, I can click on them and then zoom in and out, this makes you the king of route maps. Can I suggest you might do a post about how you do this, as some of us, including Bob and myself, clearly need some guidance!

I use a computer every day of my life to make a living... But I would be lying to all of you if I said I was proficient with one. I cannot follow computer instructions if they are more than one or two lines.

The ordeal I went through trying to pre-plot trip coordinates on my GPS, through an Apple, using directions fro Garmin, left me with a pounding headache for three days.

I would like the people at Garmin, to meet with the folks at Apple, to discuss the "click install" concept, so that map details can be exchanged by nothing more than "clicking" and "dragging."

I am under no illusions, and it is very unlikely that I will get a chance to ride a motorcycle in Europe. (So I will not be badgering you for your notes.) However, there is a rider out west (US), who is making my mouth water for roads in Utah, New Mexico, and Montana.

Id like to invite everyone to my blog Amish Stories today to read a post from old order Mennonite Jean of New York state. Jean has taken-in a foster child named Michael whose parents are no longer able to take care of him. He's English and Jeans family is old order Mennonite (horse and buggy) but that makes no difference in the love that this young man is receiving from this family. Thank you folks and i hope to see some of you drop by the blog. Richard

I love maps too. Paper maps more so than these digital maps of our modern age. Ron was amazed. The other day I cleaned out my map box. For the first time ever, I threw out a few old and obsolete ones. At least the old and obsolete AND has no sentimental value ones.

I haven't really mastered the digital versions of maps. Best I've come up with is a screen shot of google maps. Hardly useful for anything. I'll try to get better, but considering my track record with anything technical it's probably a lost cause. :)

Jack – I would like the people at Garmin to meet up with the people who make explosives and detonators. The Garmin folk should then be told to make their products more user friendly, or the explosives and detonator people can show them how well two things really can work well together. I am sorry to hear you might not get to ride in Europe, as I am sure you would arrive with lots of curiosities and leave with a big smile.

Richard – I hope a few wandered from here to your blog.

VStar Lady – Oh, yes. Maps might have helped, but you seemed to have got on pretty darn well with or without them!

bluekat – Sorry, but I have only just recovered from what you said. You threw away some maps?? How could you?? I nearly shed a tear..... I am totally with you about not being able to master digital maps. The map of Spain at the bottom of every page on my blog had the route drawn on by hand and then scanned!! There ought to be a blog just about how to create a Google Map and then import it into your own blog.

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What is this blog about?

This blog was originally started to record a five month, 21000 mile tour of the US on my Harley-Davidson. I continue to use this blog to record my own motorcycling adventures, wherever they may be, along with my thoughts and opinions about motorcycling generally.

About Me

Having devoted most of my adult life to being a ‘company man’, the transition to the next phase of my life away from the construction industry was always going to include some challenges. Planning and then making my dream trip to explore America on my Harley-Davidson proved to be the ideal vehicle for clearing my mind of old ways of thinking and being. I rode 21,475 miles, in 27 US states in four-and-a-half months.
My motorcycling trips have continued, with journeys across much of Europe, New Zealand, North Africa and Cuba.
A few years ago, I set up and now run Tour1, which takes riders on Harley-Davidson Authorised tours across Europe. See www.tour1.co.uk.
I live just north of London in the UK.

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US Tour - My Favourites Places I Went To....

It is difficult to choose, but here is my list of the highlights of my US tour, in the order I saw them in....